Saturday, May 6, 1972
Can South Viets Hack It?
WASHINGTON (AP) --Doubt about South Vietnam's fighting ability has come from unexpected Senate quarters in debate over cutting off the money for all U.S. combat involvement in Indochina.Republican whip Robert P. Griffin and Armed Services Committee Chairman John C. Stennis, both staunch supporters of administration war policy, expressed doubts Wednesday but argued strongly against a cutoff. They contended it would hobble the President."The South Vietnamese forces may not be able to hack it," Griffin said, but to vote for a cutoff, though it would not be effective until Dec. 31, would undercut President Nixon and encourage the enemy.And, the Michigan senator said, passage of a cutoff would be a futile gesture, since the legislation is subject to consideration by the House and by Nixon.Stennis, D-Miss., noted that enemy forces had overrun Quang Tri city and are advancing on the old imperial capital of Hue."As that battle goes, it's going to be hard for the South Vietnamese without the assistance of our ground troops to recover from these damaging blows." he said. But Stennis said he doubts Nixon will recommit U.S. ground troops to the war."I want to get out, and everybody here does," Stennis continued, often thumping his desk, "But you scratch the surface, and the American people don't want to be driven out ... like a whipped dog."Of the measure's supporters, Stennis said: "I challenge their mind and their patriotism in considering the timelines of this."If the Senate votes a cutoff, said Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., "I think I can draw a ring around the year world war III started."Sen. J.W. Fulbright, D-Ark., and his Foreign Relations Committee wrote the cutoff, sponsored by Sens. Clifford P. Case, R-N.J., and Frank Church, D-Idaho, into the legislation setting spending limits for the State Department.None of the three chose to answer Stennis and the others in debate Wednesday. An aide to one of them said, "You can't discuss it at that level."Stennis pushed hard all day Wednesday for a quick vote on deleting the Case-Church Amendment. Case-Church supporters want to vote next week.Stennis and Griffin contend that the cutoff endangers arms-curb talks with the Soviet Union, the Paris peace talks, and Nixon's coming Moscow summit."What we'd do is tie his hands and knock the feet out from under him," Stennis said."Can South Viets Hack It?", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Saturday, May 6, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.